APICO News

Hey Beekeepers!

So - it is time! I have now pressed the big green button to turn on the Playtest, so if you have requested access you should now get access ( i don't know how long it takes to process dont @ me). This playtest will run until this Sunday (28th November)

If you request access today don't worry, I'll release the rest of you into the Playtest tomorrow!



Rather than do it in batches I thought we'd just go for the full stress test and grant all 1000+ people access who are waiting - chances are not all these people will be playing, and definitely not at the same time so should be a good test!

Some things to note before we get started though...

[h2]It's just me![/h2]
In case somehow you missed this, it's just me working on the code development of this game! We haven't got a team of clever network engineers on hand to put out any fires - it's just me, in my pants, staring at Digital Ocean's dashboard and wondering why the fuck I agreed to adding this feature.

When the server inevitably crashes or has to go offline for changes please be patient! I will post any "maintenance" stuff in Guilded as it happens.

[h2]This is the full game![/h2]
Like the last playtest this is the actual full final finished game!! All features and functionality that we want in the finished game are in here.

The only additions since the last playtest if you played that is a shit tonne of fixes/bugs, achievements were added and all the localisation languages were added. For achievements, unfortunately you can't see the full list of achievements cos the game isn't out, and apparently getting an achievement in the Playtest DOESN'T carry over to the full game - so just worth noting. Also modding is deactivated from this version.

As it's the actual full game we're not really looking for any major feature suggestions or feedback on the overall game as that ship has sailed! What we're focusing on here is making super MP is stable and picking up any bugs found on the way.

For bugs, please use either the Guilded Forums or our Bug Report Form:
https://forms.gle/9v1T9q1DnkdLvDJ79

[h2]Disconnection[/h2]
You can get disconnected for two reasons, each showing you a message saying as much before restarting the game.

1. Disconnected From Host - self explanatory, your host either lost connected, closed the game, or "kicked" you from the game.

2. Disconnected From Server - this means that either you connection timed out from the server, i.e. we didn't hear from you for 60s so the server killed your socket, OR you haven't received any callback from the server in 20s.

Every time you click something or move something you are sending a message to the server which relays to your friend, and every 5s you send a "heartbeat" to the server - so if you get disconnected from the server then chances are your internet connection was lost for too long and couldn't be reconnected.

[h2]Hosting[/h2]
To host a game just click the magic "Host" button! You'll be given a code (also shown in-game so you don't need to remember it) and then told to pick a world to host. That's all you have to do! Once your world loads you can give people your code.



Currently you can have 3 different players join your world - for release we're probably capping this at 2 (host + 1 friend) but while we're stress testing might as well open the flood gates eh?

[h2]Joining[/h2]
To join a game enter your friends host code into the join screen and press the magic "Join" button! While we download your world from your friend and pass it on to you you'll have the opportunity to give yourself a name and customise your character.

Your player progress is tied to your friend who is hosting, but is seperate from the actual hosts progress. IF you want to reset your own personal progress you can use the "Reset Progress" button in the MP menu.

I think thats everything for now! If you want to come chat with other players or find people to play with you can join our Guilded @ https://apico.buzz/guilded - we have some voice channels for APICO players too if you need!

We'll be doing our stream on Wednesday but instead of working on Feed The Beasts we'll instead be doing some MP testing / fixing and let people join our game or something fun like that!

Love, Ell

Hey Beekeepers!

Nothing too exciting here, some clean up for the console port stuff and a few gameplay tweaks, as well as some locale fixes.

There's also a few new modding API methods added and some fixes, enjoy!

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Removed signs from console build
  
• Increased menu button hitbox size
  
• Increased effective range of heaters and coolers from 56px to 100px to match the smoker
  
• Beehives now show a radius when the menu is open (and highlighted) - like arctic/blazing/empress do but without the color
  
• Removed in-game FPS and version counter
  
• Change xbox controls visual to match modern xbox controllers
  
• Updated playstation controller visuals so its not in the 2000s
  
• Add switch controller visual in controls menu for os_switch
  
• Removed Pondshine in a Bottle from the demo build
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed JP having wrong order when English chars used within sentances
  
• Fixed some languages using the wrong menu label
  
• Fixed "Claim" text not centered correctly
  
• Fixed Beesknees hint having the wrong latin names
  
• Fixed beehive production arrow not being the right
  
• Various fixes for console builds
  
• Fixed backpacks being trashable and sellable
  

[h2]Modding[/h2]

• Added api_draw_slots() which re-runs all slot rendering for a given menu
  
• Added api_slot_redraw() which re-runs the slot rendering for a specific slot
  
• Added api_slot_item_id() which returns the slot item as a special item id, i.e. a common bee would be bee:common, a filled frame would be frame:filled.
  
• Added api_add_slot_to_menu() which lets you try and add the contents of a slot to a given menu (doesn't check validation)
  
• Added api_slot_validate() which lets you check if a given item+stats combination can be added to a given slot, useful for the above method
  
• Added api_inst_exists() which lets you check if an instance exists (nb: returns false if instance is "deactivated" offscreen too)
  
• Added api_get_mouse_inst() which returns the actual mouse instance
  
• Fixed the custom script_draw parameter not working for menu objects
  
• Fixed > 6 tier 5 bees going off the page (also remember you can specify tiers now!)
  

[h2]Modding Docs[/h2]

• Added entries for the above methods added
  
• Updated the Instance Properties page to include "rx" and "ry" - new properties on menus, slots, and gui that return the relative position with the camera included (saving you doing x - camera.x etc)
  

Hey Beekeepers!

Finally I can do a build without having to triple/quadruple check everything multiple times to make sure I don't ruin the spoiler of us adding multiplayer ːsteamfacepalmː

This update has a bunch of fixes for localisation stuff, a few little tweaks, and most importantly Multiplayer turned on!!!



To access Multiplayer simply click the button on the Home screen where you'll be able to either "Host" or "Join". Hosting gives you a code and lets you pick the world you want to host (existing or new). To join your friends game just enter the host code. Player progress is seperate, and when you join a friends world you get made a seperate player. If you need to reset your player progress at anytime you can do it from the Join screen.

Multiplayer pretty much functions as you'd expect, you can interact with things together, use the same menus/machines, throw cute bees you find at each other etc. To pass time only one of you needs to be in bed or on a bench.

There will be a Playtest soon so a bunch more people will be able to join MP (details on that soon) - this will be mainly so I can test server stability at larger scale.

If you come across any bugs, as always let us know, and enjoy!!
[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Now with Multiplayer! To play with a friend simply click Multiplayer > Host and pick a world. Your friend can then join with your host code (showed in-game in the bottom left)
  
• A notification now shows when a book is completed to take you to the overview chapter reward
  
• Crystal bees can be bred near large honeycore now (before was only small crystals)
  
• Keyboard default setting for QWERTY vs AZERTY adding to the settings menu
  
• Added new error messages to show when you don't have Grandpa's Axe but try and interact with hallowed areas
  
• Added all localisation changes for all languages
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed hint text being slightly glitched / overlapping
  
• Fixed claim button on overview pages showing as red even when they're complete
  
• Various text that was still in English updated for other languages
  
• Fixed gifs not moving in the guide book
  
• Fixed bought backpacks crashing the slot rendering of any menu they are put in until a save+reload
  
• Fixed backpacks not opening with right-click (related to above maybe?)
  
• Fixed Overview chapters not being clickable at the top of the page after scrolling and reopening a book
  
• Fixed canisters made by Worker Bees having a count rather than being singular when extracted from frames
  
• Fixed currency symbols in JP not showing correctly
  
• Fixed button text offset in JP
  

[h2]Modding[/h2]

• Updated sc_mod_api_set_devmode() to work in Production for modding
  
• Fixed mod descriptions rendering incorrectly
  
• Fixed quests being able to be handed in with items in slots that are inactive or modded
  
• Fixed sc_mod_api_use_total() picking up items in slots that are inactive or modded
  

Oh hey beekeepers!
If you're reading this it means either Ell accidentally left multiplayer in a build and spoiled the surprise OR we managed to successfully keep everything a secret until the MIX NEXT event in November! Either way, surprise!! We have multiplayer now :D

Check the trailer for more:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

So.... yeah :D
You probably have some questions, so I'll try and answer them here!


[h2]WTF when did you build this?[/h2]
A long long time ago when we first signed with Whitethorn and finished off one of the major updates the whole WT team played a bunch and all gave some really positive feedback for it! At the time Matt (WT CEO) mentioned that adding multiplayer with your friends would definitely be a bonus and they'd support me in any way they could if I wanted to give it a go. As you can imagine like 70% of our feedback has always been the ability to play with a friend so we've always had it there in the back of our minds but never really considered it (because hot damn it's a lot of work and stress).

Speed forward to around August time we had actually finished off the game apart from Localisation (being done by Whitethorn) and the Modding which was still being tested - but in terms of the actual game itself everything was complete! So we had a lot of time left...

There were some content updates I wanted to do for APICO but that was more post-release, so after twiddling my thumbs for a few days I decided what the heck lets give it a try.



After the initial test seemed to be promising I started working on it in more depth, and spent most of August and September tweaking and perfecting both the server and the in-game client stuff whilst updating the modding stuff and doing the LQA fixes.


[h2]What is the actual Multiplayer functionality?[/h2]
APICO Multiplayer is an online multiplayer system where you can "host" your world and have your friend come and join you, using your "host code". Currently this is limited to 2 people per world.

Everything in the normal game you can do with your friend! The person who hosts uses one of their worlds (or can make a new one!), and the person who joins has a seperate player progress tied to that host. Your progress is seperate so you can work away at quests/bees separately, and share the results of any fancy new bees you find.

If consoles approve it, it will also be cross-platform as all builds use the exact same relay server and connection system - so fingers crossed!

We thought about local co-op but realistically our menus do not work to have 2 players on the same screen at the same time.
In future I'll probably add a local LAN connection alternative, and I'm also thinking about releasing the actual relay server we use as OSS - this way people can host their own servers and maybe tinker with it to do some weird stuff, but overall I'm really happy with it and it's super cute!!


[h2]Will it cost anything?[/h2]
Yes you'll need to pay me 999 jars of honey every month to be able to use it >:D

Jokes aside, no, it won't cost you anything! If you own the game you'll be able to host your world or join someone else's world. The only exception to this may be on consoles, as I believe that under the Switch guidelines they may require players to have a switch online membership to access online functionality (even though it's our own server, thanks Nintendo)

Server costs will obviously get offset by sales (hopefully), and we'll probably run it for a good while before then letting people just host their own by making the relay server open source (as mentioned above).


[h2]Can I play it now / will there be a playtest?[/h2]
Yes we will be doing another playtest!! This to help iron out some of the quirks that we might of missed in multiplayer, but is mainly to allow me to test the server infrastructure at a high amount of connections.

I did some stress testing early on but it's not the same as being able to have lots of actual real busy bees playing!

I'll post an update when we know how we'll be doing this playtest but it'll be the same thing, apply on Steam and you'll get added randomly as we add more people.


[h2]How does it work?[/h2]
As some of you might know I'm a full-time software dev and have worked on a lot of boring SaaS stuff, so I've built some pretty gnarly shit before but I've never had to touch multiplayer so this was an absolute trek (will be posting devlogs for Multiplayer over the next few weeks!).

The main thing was that I wanted to check ways we could get it working before even potentially mentioning it - the last thing I want to do is promise something that turns out to not be possible/practical (and even now announcing this keeps me up at night), but after a lot of messing around I managed to make a system using a relay server that turned out to work pretty well.

Using a node relay (suitably dubbed "BeeNet") and the built-in GMS socket connection stuff I built out a sync system that let two people play together and keep track of each others movements and actions!



For the nerds; I didn't want to do UDP hole punching as it isn't 100% reliable, I didn't want to do direct IP connection (a la Minecraft) as having to open ports is a nightmare to explain to people (especially console!), and I didn't want a fully fledged server where worlds are hosted cos ya boys broke - so relay seemed the best option and the most reliable!

As mentioned, I'll be doing some deep-dives in the devlogs soon so keep an eye out for that if thats your sort of thing!

I think that covers most things but if you have any other questions let me know!
I'm super excited (and terrified) for you all to give it a try and just be able to be vibin' with your friends and the bees ~ Ell